Userbox
A userbox (commonly abbreviated as UBX) is a small colored box (see examples to the right) designed to appear only on a Wikipedian's user page as a communicative notice about the user, in order to directly or indirectly help Wikipedians collaborate more effectively on articles. The first userboxes were introduced to support the Babel inter-language effort by indicating users' skills in other languages. Using existing userboxes Userboxes belong on their users' pages. In some cases, it may be considered uncivil to place userboxes on other users' pages without their permission (especially in a mean-spirited way—homophobia, racism, sexism, etc). However, userboxes may be placed on non-mainspace talk/discussion pages by anyone. (See also Wikipedia:Talk page.) The template can be placed after the plain userbox if text is added on a new line immediately after it. A gallery of existing userboxes can be found here: WP:Userboxes/Gallery. Syntax The standard syntax for adding a userbox to your user page (also known as transclusion) is: . Optional substitution You may decide to substitute the template code onto your user page using the syntax . The use of "subst:" will ensure that the template is always displayed in its form when you add it to your user page, i.e. it will not reflect subsequent edits to the template. This method will lead to large amounts of code on your user page. Creating a new userbox :If you wish to offer an idea for a userbox, do so on the ideas page. If you have designed a userbox that you would like to make available to others, you may wish to first display it on the New Userboxes talk page for community comment. Which namespace? Userboxes may only be created or displayed in the User, Project, or Template namespaces. So should your userbox be prefixed with User:, Wikipedia:, or Template:? As content in User: space is traditionally given more leeway than in other namespaces, userboxes in User: space may not be as directly collaborative in nature as those in Template: or Wikipedia: namespaces, which are expected to adhere more tightly with policies and guidelines, such as neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is. (This should also be considered before moving a userbox from userspace to any other namespace.) If in doubt, consider presenting the userbox at New Userboxes talk page for community comment. ; User:: To host a userbox in the user namespace, simply create a subpage of your own user page or User:UBX. ; Wikipedia:: Userboxes in the project namespace are generally for WikiProject or task force usage. Simply create it as a subpage of the WikiProject (e.g. Wikipedia:VG/DAH!/userbox). ; Template:: In the template namespace, userbox names must begin with "User " (e.g. Template:User Brazil or Template:User en) Caution about image use Wikimedia Commons has a large range of icons for use within boxes. However, if you select an image from somewhere else, make certain the image has a free license. Templates (which includes userboxes) on user pages may not contain any copyrighted content not under free license; so, for example, "fair use" images are explicitly forbidden. This is interpreted strictly and without exception. See Wikipedia's fair use policy guidelines for more details. Caution about category use *User categories must be sub-categories of Category:Wikipedians. *Names and descriptions of user categories are subject to the same rules and restrictions as userbox content. *Overcategorization should be avoided. Caution about colours Please be mindful of the colour contrast guidelines at WP:COLOUR - low-contrast colours present accessibility barriers to people with colour-blindness or other visual disabilities. Content restrictions *All userboxes are governed by the civility policy. **Userboxes must not include incivility or personal attacks. **Userboxes must not be inflammatory or divisive. **Wikipedia is not an appropriate place for propaganda, advocacy, or recruitment of any kind, commercial, political, religious, or otherwise, opinion pieces on current affairs or politics, self-promotion, or advertising. Simply: If content is not appropriate on other parts of a user page, it is not appropriate within userboxes. Content examples :The following section is not to be considered all-inclusive. As such, other word combinations (both appropriate and inappropriate) are obviously possible. Typical userbox content: *This user <verb phrase> <noun phrase> *This user <verb phrase> <noun phrase> <prepositional phrase> Typical verbs: * verbs of action: contributes (to), drives, eats, edits, plays, uses, watches * verbs of comprehension: reads, speaks, understands * verbs of preference: enjoys, likes, loves Additional examples, using the linking verb is: *This user is *This user is a fan of *This user is a member of *This user is interested in To avoid the awkward third-person phrasing ("This user"), you can use " | 1 | 1 }}" (without the quotes) to insert the name of the user that includes it on their page. E.g. " | 1 | 1 }} uses second-person phrasing" produces " | 1 | 1 }} uses second-person phrasing". Potentially divisive words Avoid verbs (often followed by the word "that") which may be used to suggest negative comparison and would thus be potentially divisive, such as: *believes, considers, finds, knows, prefers, thinks, wishes. Avoid negative verb phrases which can be potentially divisive, such as: *dislikes, despises, hates, loathes Also avoid compound sentences which are positive and negative, such as: *This user likes , but does not like . Essentially: Express what you do like, rather than what you don't like. Express what you comprehend, rather than what you don't comprehend. Express what you do, rather than what you don't. Express who you are, rather than who you aren't. Constructing a userbox How to construct the box There are a number of box types to select from when deciding to make a userbox. The most commonly used design is the "Standard box". It has one square shaped area on the left ("id") and a rectangular area on the right ("info"). For ease of use, userboxes are typically made using maker-templates that have a number of parameters. The id and info boxes can include text, links, and images using the usual Wikipedia syntax. Generally, the info box will contain a sentence with a link or two, while the id box will contain a few letters or a 43px image. Userbox types Userbox sampling templates To make it easier to quote the generation code for a userbox in a uniform format, a template has been made available, which produces a picture of the userbox along with the code necessary to create it. To use it, just give it exactly the same parameters you would give the template. You must use subst:, or the template will not work properly. An example is shown below: : Produces: |} There are not yet any similar templates available for userboxes created by the templates Userbox-r, Userbox-2 and Userbox-m. Grouping userboxes Using the Userboxtop template As with the Babel box, there is a box to group userboxes together. Just make a list of userboxes with at the top, followed by your list of userboxes, and at the bottom. For example, the box to the right is created using the following list: Using collapsible tables My yellow userboxes My purple userboxes If you wish to group your userboxes into expandable lists in the template, one way of doing this is by using collapsible tables with certain classes. Wikipedia's Mediawiki configuration attempts to make this happen through a combination of ECMAScript and CSS. This method is accessible to users with ECMAScript (jScript/JavaScript) disabled, and should work in most modern browsers (it is the method used by ). :Using the codes in works much better and simpler using normal wiki table markup! (Caption) (Place your userboxes here...) Include 'collapsed' if you want the box to start closed, omit it if you want the box to start open. You can also use multiple tables to get separate collapsible parts like in the example to the right. Using the Babel grouping system Similar results can be achieved with either of the following: The older Babel grouping system can also be used, e.g. . However, it only works for user boxes with the "User" prefix, which must then be dropped for the arguments. Also, boxes that need arguments of their own (such as ) cannot be used with the Babel system. Using tables Another alternative would be to table your userboxes: would produce the following: To center one userbox use this coding: which produces: Combining tables and the boxboxtop template Yet another method of grouping boxes is done by combining Examples 2 and 4 together. Example 2 breaks DHTML interoperability. It works as intended on Internet Explorer; however, it does not work well with Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera when additional hide/show sections are added. This solution provides proper rendering on all three web browsers and scales much better when it comes to the number of groups you want to have. The table property can be adjusted by adding width="100%" (adjusting its percentage or by using a pixel width multiple of the userbox) to add more than one column. Another property align="right" can be changed to place the userboxes left, right, or center of the page. Gallery This is a list index of various userboxes on Wikipedia. See also * Wikipedia:Jimbo on Userboxes * Wikipedia:List of userbox deletion nominations * Wikipedia:User page design center * Wikipedia:Userbox Maker * Wikipedia:Userbox migration * Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes * Users who may make userboxes upon request Userboxes Category:WikiProject Userboxes